2 held in Samjhauta Exp blasts case

Two persons have been arrested here by the Haryana police for their suspected involvement in the Samjhauta Express train blast, police sources said on Wednesday.

The two, identified as Huzaifa of Abhinandan Bag Centre and the shop manager Poonam Singh Thakur, were taken to Panipat or Chandigarh after seeking permission of the court for further probe, they said adding it was established that the cover of the suitcase in which bombs were planted was stitched by them.

However, it was not established as yet whether the suitcase of 'Kodak brand' was actually purchased from Indore or not as they are of inferior quality costing nearly Rs 150-200 and was supplied by a Mumbai-based firm.

Two powerful explosions ripped through two coaches of the Lahore-bound Samjhauta Express on the night of February 18, killing 67 people near Panipat.

The sources said Huziafa and Thakur were not cooperating in the probe. They were unable to provide the sales record to the probing team.

Even the probe team was unable to establish whether the plastic bottle of Sourabh plastic of Indore found in the suitcase was actually purchased from the city or not as the product is being distributed from here to places situated upto a distance of 400-500 km, they said.

The probe team during investigations has also found an Aligarh connection as the leading newspaper in which the bombs were wrapped was published from Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, the sources said.